Restful Night

The air was light and carried a warmness to it. The sun was setting, and there wasn’t much daylight left. 

“Jeb, maybe we should set up camp. We won’t have much daylight left to continue traveling.” 

Jeb scoffed at Clint, he knew that he was right, but he didn’t want to rest. Clint slowed to a stop as he grabbed Jeb’s arm. 

“Come on, let’s just relax for a little bit.” Clint had puppy dog eyes staring into Jeb’s. And he giggled when he noticed that it caused Jeb to blush. 

“Gah, fine.” Jeb groaned. “But we leave as soon as the sun rises.”

After finding a flat clearing the boys began to start setting up the camp. Clint roamed looking for wood to start a fire with while Jeb started putting on a small tent that he had with him. Jeb was focused, making sure that it was sturdy enough to lay in if winds came.

After all the preparation the sun was leaving the sky, and the moon and stars were starting to settle in its place. The fire crackeled and danced between the boys. 

Clint stared up at Jeb but Jeb stared into the fire instead. His eyes were heavy but everytime they started to shut he shot back up.

“Jeb, if you’re this tired you should try to sleep. It’s not fun to watch you like this and it makes you look sad.” He laughed to try and lighten his statement. 

“No.” He said in a hard tone. “I cannot sleep.”

Clint stood up and walked over to Jeb. He placed his hands onto his shoulder and leaned down to whisper into his ear. 

“Let’s sleep, and I promise you’ll wake up.”

Jeb stood to remove Clint from on top of him. 

“You can’t promise that, what if I don’t!”

The way Jeb’s voice raised was a mixture of fear and anger. Clint could see that he was more of the former. Without saying another word Clint pulled Jeb into a hug. 

“Please sleep, I will protect you.” Clint said in a softer tone than his usual. 

Clint let go of the hug and stared into Jeb’s eyes with a sincerity that neither could deny. Clint turned and got down to crawl into the tent. Jeb took a deep breath and followed him in. 

In the confined space they were close together. Clint laid on his side and signaled his head to make Jeb lay down as well. He crawled slowly and then laid down. Clint readjusted himself to lay close next to Jeb. 

Clint smiled and pulled Jeb into his chest.

“I can feel that you’re still scared but it’s okay. I’ll lay here until you feel safe to fall asleep.”

Jeb breathed in and out and relaxed his body. He took his breaths smelling Clint. Clint took his hand a put it to Jeb’s chin, pulling him up to look at him. Without saying anything Clint placed his lips to Jeb’s and kissed him gently. When the kiss split neither pulled back, instead just staying close to each other. 

“Sorry I couldn’t help myself when you’re this close to me.”

He laughed and kissed Jeb again.

“Even though you’re scared, I want you to trust me.”

Jeb was speechless but pulled away from Clint and laid his head on his chest. He closed his eyes and repeated Clint’s words in his head. 

In his head all Jeb could say to himself was that he would wake up again. And that Clint will be there to protect him. He kept thinking that over and over. Until his mind was blank, and he was finally asleep in Clint’s arms.